


The Trapped Merman

by Zeath



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Anxiety, Attempted Murder, Fishing, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nervousness, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Overprotective, Rescue, Sea Monsters, Transformation, Wheelchairs, mermaid, merman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-09-24
Packaged: 2018-02-13 19:23:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2162205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zeath/pseuds/Zeath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave finds a mermaid struggling in a fisherman’s net and decides to save him, but now the mermaid and Dave are connected by fate and will end up having their paths crossed once again</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys, this is my first time trying out this kind of story so I'm sorry if it's crap.  
> If you do like it then thank you!!
> 
> Please try out my ghost love story, A Touch With Death!   
> archiveofourown.org/works/1696535/chapters/3609680

The waves crashed onto the shore nearby as two brothers sat on a plastic sheet on the fisherman’s dock. They had two coolers beside each other; one for the drinks and the second for the bait. One of the brothers opened up the bait box and stabbed the poor victim on the wire hook, careful not to stab himself and threw it into the water, holding the rod and waiting. The second brother, much younger, copies his elder and stabs the worm onto the hook, lobbing it out into the sea and taking up the same position as his brother, the rod between his legs and fingers on the handle ready to wind it up if there was a tug on the line.

This wasn’t the first time that they were out in the dock; the blonde’s both had fished before and even came here sometimes, but this was the first time that they came out so late at night. It was cold, the sky was bare so the stars could shine brightly and reflect on the water below. It was a truly beautiful sight to behold. 

They had been out for hours now, between the two of them they had a bag of fish, and quite a hefty pile as well since the two of them had caught a lot of fish; different colors, sizes and species that they couldn’t have caught in the daylight. Maybe the type of fish changed from the time of day to the time of darkness, speaking of night; Dave yawned loudly and lifted off his shades to rub the small tears from his eyes. 

“You tired?” His brother checked the colorful watch on his bulked up wrist, clocking the time in at ten forty in the evening. Dave shook his head and looked back out into the sea, stating that he could carry on. “Nah man it’s late, you’ve got school tomorrow.” 

“I’ll just skip it then.” The younger states and Bro just stares at him for a moment before starting to pack up everything, pulling his rod out the water and tying everything up. Dave complained for a moment before he came to a conclusion that it was futile, once his brother made a decision it would never be overruled. He started packing up as well and soon they were stuffing all their tools and belongings into the beaten up truck that Bro had bought when Dave was only a child. He only got it because he knew that he would have to cart the child around everywhere and it’s better to do it with a vehicle than on his shoulders and running to the area of their destination. 

They had a rock paper scissors battle for who had to check the area for anymore supplies they could have missed and Dave had lost pathetically. He stomped his way back down to the dock sulkily while cursing at his brother who was laughing at him while leaning against the car, smoking a cigarette. He checked around and found nothing, only fish blood from where Bro had stabbed the fish’s head so they wouldn’t suffer through suffocation. 

He spotted a shiny thing near one of the rocks and hopped down; it was being reflected from the bright moon tonight. Thinking it was probably a hook gone missing or he even hoped for gold, maybe a dead animal so he could add it to his collection. What he did find though wasn’t really what he was expecting. 

There, struggling in rock pool type water, an old murky net trapped around it as it attempted to fight for freedom, was a fish man. 

“What the fuck?” The creature looked up quickly, then let out a saddened sound as it tried to wriggle away from him, closer to the jagged rocks that blocked it from the rest of the sea, how it got there was a complete mystery but what mattered was that there was a fucking giant man fish right there in front of him. 

Around it’s neck was the thing that was reflecting the light of the moon, a pearl necklace that fit quite handsomely against the doe eyes that stared back at him. It looked like a deer in the headlights – a cliché way of saying things but it’s true, this fish was like a deer; nicely freckled shoulders and cheeks matching brown eyes like those anime girls Bro watches when he thinks he’s not looking. His brownish black hair was made to look wavy but it was cut to look like a mohawk, already Dave was intrigued by this and for that he wanted to know more; the thing must have a personality to shave it’s hair like that. 

This creature really was a spectacle to look at, only problem was it was stuck in the ropes and edging for the spiked rocks all because it was scared of him. Dave knelt down and smiled at it, in the eye because, where else was he supposed to look? That browned tail with orange like freckles? Surely that would be like staring at some girls boobs, he wasn’t like that, he was a smooth sailor. “Can you understand me?” 

He spoke softly and the thing noticed that he was speaking so talking got its attention, always a plus. “Don’t be scared, can you understand me?”

The fish stopped struggling slightly to pay close attention, listening fondly to Dave and tilted it’s head to the side as if curious and the blonde, at least it wasn’t trying to hurt itself. “Yeah that’s it, I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m guessing you can understand so, I’m Dave.” 

He didn’t want to hold out his hand in case the fish thought he was going to suddenly lash out so he reached up to his face and took of his shades; his one wall of defense in case anything went to attack him. To Dave it was like making sure the fish was on the same level as him as the blonde opened his eyes, shining crimson at the creature.

The fish thing seemed to understand; at least that’s what Dave thought from the flapping of the fins on the freckled tail. It opened its mouth and let out a sound that wasn’t human, it didn’t even sound like something a fish would make; it was a harmonious tune that pulled him in. Dave crawled a little closer to the fish and this time, it didn’t flinch. Instead, it wiggled the tail and spoke in a rather croaky yet softened voice. “Help.”

Dave was onto it in a second, tucking his shades into his pocket and quickly grabbing the rope, unlacing the fin from it gently. When his fingers brushed against the tail, he noticed that the tail was somewhat slimy. It didn’t disgust him as much as he thought it would have. Once the rope was flung on land where the fish couldn’t get harmed by it, it smiled its thanks and went into action, trying to wiggle it’s way onto the sharp rocks and into the water on the other side. 

“Wait, you’ll get hurt if you drag yourself. Here, let me.” Dave didn’t know he could be so nice to strangers but that thought left him immediately as soon as he saw the deer eyes stare up at him as if Dave was a savior. How could he not help someone who gives you that look? 

Fuck. His brother would be shaking his head right about now if he saw Dave being merciful. 

He stepped around the fish, onto the sharp rocks and knelt down again as if to say that it could now get across. It looked a little surprised but reached up so Dave could get a good hold on it and started lifting it up. 

Holy shit this is one giant fish. It weighed more than Bro and that was saying something, that tail must have been like another person attached to them weight wise. No wonder it couldn’t free itself. 

Dave grunted as he half carried, half dragged the fish over the jagged rocks and to the much softer area where the pebbles met with the much smaller boulders. He didn’t want the skin to be damaged because he knew how fragile skin gets torn from Bro’s strifing, he didn’t know if the fin or tail would be ripped or shredded by the rocks so he made sure to keep his leg out so the fish could just hold onto his shoulders with his arms, and his tail could just lay on his thigh. That was his idea anyway. 

Stepping into the murk between the rocks and getting his jeans soaked, but that didn’t matter enough because this giant fish man was just clinging to him like his life depended on it. He didn’t know, maybe it did. 

He moved his legs so the tail could splash into the water, once again kneeling down to lower the fish into the freezing cold water. Seriously, Dave didn’t know how the thing wasn’t shaking like a leaf, that water was below freezing on nights like these. The fishman just laid there for a moment as if to soak up all the water into it’s fins and gills and whatever else it had. It felt like an intimate moment so Dave looked away, but as soon as he did he heard a louder splash and all of the creature slip from his arms. 

Looking back down at the almost pitch black water, he saw the fish looking up at him with something in it’s eyes before letting out another melody that shot straight through Dave’s system. Lighting up every nerve in his body and setting fire to his blood. His ears rang and he covered them, shutting his eyes tight, that was apparently the escape ticket for the fish, who quickly duck it’s head under the water and waved it’s tail to gain speed through the waves until it would no longer be seen by human eyes. 

Dave opened his eyes to notice that the thing had left and Bro was calling for him, asking if he had fallen in. getting his act together, the blonde quickly rose from the rocks and made his way back to the car, slipping his shades on before his brother could see him. “No more stuff out there.”

“Why’d y’ take so long then?” The elder raised his eyebrow, Dave could see it over those pointed sunglasses. Honestly, they were so uncool and Dave had tried to destroy them many times when his brother was in the shower or sleeping. Bro always found out and ended up having full on strifing battles; it was like those shades were another limb to Bro, creepy. 

“No reason, just thoroughly searching. Let’s go home, I’m cold.” He got into the beaten up truck and slammed the rusted door behind him, buckling up because by the way his brother drives, he seriously needs all the help he can get to stay in his seat. 

“Well yeah y’ cold, your legs all wet.” Bro got in and didn’t say anything else and started up the truck, the vehicle roaring into life after a few tries at the engine. They soon were on their way to their apartment, which was on the eighth floor, no elevator because it was out of order for two years. 

Their apartment consisted of a lot of puppets around the place, as well as a small part of the far off wall that was related to fishing, huge suckers pinned to the wall where they could be shown off that they, the Striders, fought with fishes those sizes and won. Bro always made sure the pedestals were clean, that area was the only place that was polished every couple of days whereas everywhere else was just a nightmare. 

They got inside and Dave attempted not to trip over the many stuffed puppet that were laid haphazardly around the place, making his way through them with his small pathway he created that would make sure he got to sleep without having to trip and go to A&E from puppet trauma. 

His bedroom wasn’t very big, only a couple of meters wide and it wasn’t high enough either, but it was home. Dave flopped onto the bed and let out a much needed sigh; what a day, what a strange, peculiar day. He flipped open his laptop to start searching what the ever loving fuck that thing was because Dave knew it wasn’t an everyday fish. His pesterchum logged on as soon as he turned the computer on and right away he had a message pop up. It was from John, asking if he would be in school tomorrow. 

He really wasn’t in the mood for school; it was their third term and he has only come in when a friend asked him too, he hadn’t cared for the education the school gave him. Plus, his Bro is rich from his business of making puppets, creepy as that is, he knows that he would never be in trouble when it comes to getting knowledge. Also when he wants to learn later on in life he knows that his brother would pay for a tutor or another school for him to go to. But since it’s John, his clueless little buddy who has always had a skip in his step, had asked him – more like begging – to be at school tomorrow he guesses that he should. 

Replying to the message and not bothering with waiting for John to write back, Dave got to work with finding out what the fuck that fish man was.


	2. Chapter 2

He knew he shouldn’t have gone to school. The reason why John had begged him was because they were doing a whole day of physical education. 

Dave hated doing it because it meant he was shown off by the teacher because that bastard knew Dave was really fit and so made him show everyone how to do certain types of sports. All the students ended up giving him starry eyes as he was doing the long jump because he ended up getting second place in the height, only reason why he lost that was because of this super tall asshole thinking that being big was the best thing in the world as he flew over the pole and brushed it off like it was nothing. 

He and John would always be teamed up for these events – another reason the brunette begged him to come today. John wasn’t really the best at sports due to his asthma fucking up his lungs and making his cough every few jogs. Most of the time he depended of Dave to get him through the activities. 

But throughout the day, the only thing on Dave’s mind was that fish man he saw last night, a mermaid so Google answers says. He didn’t believe it because mermaids were meant to be a Disney film and maybe a few books but should definitely not be a part of his life. He looked up all the pictures and none of them matched what that fish was, they were all girl for one thing, with shell bras and long ass hair. He searched up boy mermaids but all he got was a few shitty arts and craft dress ups by amateurs.

He wanted to say something to John; they had been friends since fifth grade when Dave stopped bullies from taking away the brunettes glasses. After that they wouldn’t be apart for very long, stuck together like glue. He didn’t know if this would just be over the top for their friendship, they didn’t have any secrets between them but this wasn’t really like talking about their puberty or sex life, this was about a fish that he probably wouldn’t see ever again. 

It was a cool experience though, Dave thought after staying up until two in the morning thinking about what had happened. He saved a possible mermaid from its death, that’s pretty rad to him and he wants to share it, even if it’s to his friend who still believes in the Easter bunny. He decided quickly while they were waiting on the benches during a netball match; both of them were on the same team and they were losing quite badly. 

“I have something to tell you but it’s a secret so you gotta keep your mouth shut.” He looked out onto the match where the other team had just stolen the ball. John looked up from cleaning his glasses on his shirt, breaking out into a full grown grin before noticing that it was a secret and ducked his head down. 

“Tell me everything, dude. I’m all ears.” He was excited to know the juicy details of his friend’s life; they hadn’t spoken much for the past week because of Dave’s absence in school and they hadn’t told each other any new secrets besides catching up on the latest ‘who do you think is hot?’ talk. 

“It’s going to sound weird but it’s real trust me.” Dave took a deep breath before going into what happened the night before, how he found a boy mermaid and saved it from rope, set it free back in the water, how it sang, what the merman looked like and how it felt. When he finished explaining he just sat there with his head down, not really looking at John incase his friend was giving him the look of a madman; of course the story sounded fake, he wouldn’t be surprised if John flatly prompted that he was lying. “It’s true, trust me.” 

“Really? I knew they were real because hello? If the Easter Bunny is real then so should all the other mythical creatures. I bet Santa Claus exists too.” He was talking rapidly with excitement, it normally gave Dave a headache to try and understand what the shorter boy was talking about, but today be actually listened properly. He had so much respect for the boy now because if any other person who he spoke to about it then they would have told him he was insane and ran away telling everybody. Not this guy, this is why John was his best friend. 

They spoke a little more quietly so no one could hear them talk about such things. Dave thought up of a name for the merman, Adrian, but John quickly had a small quarrel with him about it, his argument was that the merman probably already had a name and if he saw it again then he would be confused because he’d used Adrian it’d be confusing for everyone involved. Dave’s argument was that he wasn’t going to see it again therefore he can call it whatever he wanted. 

In the end, John won, with his attitude to never give up and Dave’s cool kid swagger to act calm all the time, Dave ended up brushing it off as a no big deal but John thought of it as a victory; he barely won against the blonde, only in arguments. 

The whistle blew sharp from the coach and everyone stood up and made their way into the changing rooms, rushing so they could get first in line for the break time cafeteria. Dave took his time, didn’t want to make it a big deal, but deep down he really wanted something to eat; he rarely got the occasion to eat normal dinners because Bro wasn’t that much of a cook and Dave just couldn’t be assed. They always got take away or microwave food, so when the cafeteria was open he would always want to get a hot meal to fill his small stomach; he had enough money to buy the biggest meals so it was no problem there. John started hurrying him up, not wanting their normal spot to be snatched away; no one sat there that often and by now, Rose or Jade would have taken the seats but for John, he quickly slipped his shirt on and picked his bag up, throwing it over his shoulder and running out the changing room. 

The cafeteria was indeed crowded with hungry kids waving cash at the chef, ordering numbers from the plank which had the dinners in numeral order, written in chalk which was slowly fading. Dave knew his type of dinners were hard to get rid of so he waited back, pretending he didn’t care all that much all while John was fighting with the order children, stomachs growling. After checking his wrist watch multiple times, the brunette came out of the slowly dying crowd with a tray of goodies for himself, beaming like a warrior who just won their battle. 

They walked out to the somewhat abandoned area where they usually eat and there, just like Dave said, was Rose and Jade eating out of their lunchboxes. The boys plonked their asses down on the bench and John quickly dug into his little meal, Dave greeted the ladies and they started their normal conversation.

“Whoa Strider’s actually here for once!” Jade acted surprised and gasped dramatically, they couldn’t see it but Dave was rolling his eyes behind his shades. 

“John must have needed him for something. My theory would be because of John’s lack of fitness - sorry dear – he needed Dave to be his partner in the whole day of physical education.” Rose was knitting again, already had eaten her lunch; a neatly packed box of jam sandwiches, a low fat yoghurt and two chocolate bars which completely depleted the intention of the low fat yoghurt. 

“Once again you have got the whole thing perfectly correct, Rose. I was pulled from the relationship of my bed and dragged here against my will so that I can be worn out at school as well as at home. Such a pity, my poor legs will never cope with this if it carries on.” Dave swooned, hand against his forehead as he pretended to faint, making the others laugh, even Rose covered her mouth to chuckle into her hand. 

Truth was he actually did miss his little group; being away from school was good and all because he hated classes and the way teachers wouldn’t let someone be themselves. The uniform for example was meant to take the character right out of the children and Dave hated it with a vengeance, he was sort of glad it was a whole day of P.E because he could wear what he wanted up to a point. But being away from school was taking him away from his friends and that’s why he wanted to just stay when it was break times so he could chill and chat. 

He could act like a dork while keeping up his cool dude attitude. They all knew it wasn’t the real him anyway so he could somewhat relax around them, keeping his guard up just in case someone walked by. 

“Dave you’re so lame!” Jade giggled into her next bite of her baguette, John gasped and shook his head, gulping his mouthful of food.

“No he’s not, he’s like super cool! He’s so much cooler than you!” Jade gasped in horror and stood up, pinching the boys arm which in turn made him yelp in pain. “It’s true! He went fishing and then he found a mer – nngh!” 

“Mer…?” The girls looked at each other, eyebrows raised as their curiosity peaked. Dave had covered John’s mouth easily and was keeping him in a headlock to make sure the idiot didn’t open his mouth and say the wrong thing. 

“Nothing, I found a metal stone. No big deal.” He tried to cover it up easily but thinking on the spot was hard for him sometimes, especially when it came to the IQ of Rose. By the looks of things, she didn’t buy it but she didn’t say anything, knitting away at her new scarf; pink with brown spots dusting over it. It kind of reminded Dave of the merman, the doe eyes and freckly tail but quickly evaded that thought in his head as Rose stopped working. 

“Stop spacing out, you know you can talk to me about anything, I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to and what has been going on in your life at the moment.” She spoke softly but Dave knew she was laughing evilly in her mind. Rose had always wanted to become a therapist and so would sometimes put it upon her friends to make sure she could be a good counselor and help others. 

He wanted to say something, it was only a one-time thing and he knew that the merman was probably in France of something by now and far away from here as possible. It’s not like he would ever get a chance to say things like this either and would love to rub it in Jade’s face too because he knows how much she loves going on adventures and showing off that he saw a mermaid and actually helped it was something he could hold on her for a lifetime. “Yeah just thinking how awesome it was to help a trapped mermaid.” 

Yeah he doesn’t care if they don’t believe him; he wanted to brag about how cool he was, how heroic. Of course they scoffed and Jade rolled her eyes, but after telling them the story – John butting in every now and again to tell parts of it with excitement – their faces started to change from disbelief to shock. Surprise bitches.  
“Okay so if this is real and you’re not going pranking us, where is it now?” Jade was leaned in over the bench, eyes twinkling under her round glasses. 

Dave shrugged and looked away, peering at the boy next to him who was stuffing his face with the small meal he bought, that reminded him; he needed to buy his food from the cafeteria. “Nah I don’t lie, Harley. Sadly I don’t know where it is now, probably in some far off land away from us. Maybe if I see it again I’ll take him for you to get a closer look.” 

“No that’d be cruel.” The look of sadness across her face surprised him for a moment and he felt something in his stomach, like guilt. He’s glad that he wears shades because his eyes widened a little; he wasn’t meant to show emotion after all. But he didn’t like it and took his earlier advice to stand up and buy some food, leaving John to explain things and change the conversation to something happier while he tried to will away the ugly feeling in his gut. 

The queue at the cafeteria had almost dwindled into nothing so he ordered his meal and waited a while for them to get it set up on the tray. His mind started to wander off into the world of mermaids and went back to that night, imagining what it would be like to see that freckly merman again; he should have taken a picture. Maybe if he sees it again then he could, but he doubts it. He snapped out of his little daydream when the cook waved a hand in his face, getting his attention so he could pay and get out of the small line. He took the tray and the cook’s advice, quickly darting off back to the little group of friends with his head down in case anyone was watching him. 

The mood had lightened a lot since he had left and he didn’t want to ruin it with more bullshit, he always did that; made everything awkward. He loved hanging with his friends and making them laugh with his dorky jokes but sometimes when he actually wanted to say something and mean the words he says, the only one who would listen is Rose and that’s because she wanted to practice her therapeutic work. They had never told him not to say stuff like that but he felt the way they reacted; he knows about body language from fighting Bro, what to look for when things needed to be felt and not spoken about. Their eyes would evade his and their body’s would literally pivot away from him as if to shut him out from the conversation. 

He knows that his humor was sometimes a little rough around the edges and it can offend, he didn’t think his little joke would leave a mark on Jade. If he knew he wouldn’t have added it but it was said and he can’t take it back. Now that he thought about it more, what he said wasn’t even a joke, more like a jab. Dave knows that when it comes to Jade and her feelings, he has to stay guard; she’s a sensitive soul and loves animals more than he loves apple juice. He checked his watch and saw it was only a few minutes until the next lesson which gave him to excuse not getting involved with the new conversation and stuffing his face with warm bread and somewhat melted butter. 

The bell rang when he started on his drink, food scoffed down his throat already. All four of them stood and John took the trays back to the cafeteria while Rose took off to her next class by herself. She was in grade twelve and was doing normal school work so had to get to her class earlier, which left Jade and Dave to wait for John because they were going to walk to the gym together. It was kind of awkward because Jade could hold a grudge for a while and Dave just wasn’t good at starting conversations. He continued to sip his pure apple juice through the straw while they waited for the prankster and sure enough they didn’t have to wait long because he was running towards them and immediately started talking.

Soon they set off back to the gym, John blabbing away about fuck knows, apparently it was funny though because Jade was laughing. Dave was walking behind them sucking the life out of his juice box until they spilt at the changing rooms and started the session over again. Did he mention how much he fucking hated school?

\--

When the school bell finally rang to end the day, Dave was undressing in the changing rooms. He normally took his time when school ended because of all the pandemonium at the front gate; all the kids trying to escape into buses, bikes, cars and if you were unlucky, like Dave, you would have to walk home. 

Once his clothes were on and his shoes tied, he started his extra-long journey to his apartment complex. If he ran, he would take an hour to get home, but if he was just simply walking he would take an extra half an hour, it was nearly dark when he got home and exhausted but still, Bro wanted to strife him until he was so tired he could fall asleep on the concrete. 

But this time he didn’t care about anything, headphones in and took his merry time to get home. His journey was all the way over the park, through the small pathway near the docks and up a hill before going into the area and going up eight floors before getting home. It was a nightmare. But Bro couldn’t be assed to go out of his way to drive maybe twenty minutes at his pace to the school and back to pick up his poor exhausted little brother. 

He changed to a new song and walked to the pace of the beat, it’s really strange when people do that; change their emotion to fit a certain bit of music and when that song ends, a new one begins and again your feelings change. At the moment he was listening to a sassy song so he was strutting his stuff while nodding his head. What people didn’t know about him – if they have then they haven’t told him – he likes listening to overly camp songs, not because he was gay or anything, he just loved listening to the sass in the lyrics and the way they show attitude in their melodies. 

While a new tune played in his ears; one of his favorites out of the bunch he found, singing out loud because he was near the docks now and no one really comes by here anymore unless they’re fishing or coming in with a boat, which was rare. Though there might be some scenery photographers because the view out here was immense; light fading out beyond the eye’s view and the waves crashing on the small buildup of rocks coming to the pathway he was walking on. 

Throughout all the view and the littleness that was going on around him apart from the water splashing, creating loud noises that you would find on one of those calming remedy tapes. Dave felt that his chest was tightening when he got closer to the small rundown bridge that had been there for years. It was unnerving to him because he fishes there and he doesn’t get that feeling, the only time he felt this way was when he hadn’t masturbated in over a week and suddenly got turned on. But he did it like two days ago and his pipes wouldn’t need bursting that quickly. 

He pulled his headphones out of his ears and stared out onto the water, confused as to what this feeling was, reaching down to rub his stomach as it clenched a little. Then he heard it; a voice. 

Not actually a voice, more like someone singing. 

He started searching around, looking up over the hill for anyone nearby, any fishermen or women who were around, or maybe someone on a boat. There was no one. Dave started getting a little uneasy; he had nothing to protect him apart from his fists and he preferred swords to save him the bruises. He tried to keep walking, ignoring the feeling in his gut but the twisting was pulling him near the rocks, he didn’t even notice where he was going until he heard crunching on him stepping on pebbles, leading to the little boulders. 

Dave was preparing himself; maybe it was just a feeling but he wanted to figure out what was happening to him, just in case. He hopped up on the rocks and looked around; the singing was louder and urged him more as if it wanted him to go into the water. He knelt down and reached into the cold sea, feeling it chill his hand from the temperature.

What he didn’t expect was the slimy grip that attached to his hand underwater. Dave tried to pull back but the strength behind the grip was tremendous and it held him from retreating. He looked into the water to attempt at seeing the thing that grabbed him but saw nothing, only the darkness of the freezing water. 

The singing was as loud as it could possibly be but instead of cringing and trying to resist it, Dave noticed how he was being pulled in, mentally as well as figuratively. His body was submerging into the sea and that something that held onto him was not letting him go. He couldn’t fight anymore, the song was so distracting, hurting his ears and violating his brain to think that he needs to go in, he wants to go in. 

The waters coldness stung him like icicles stabbing his every nerve as he submerged and felt the thing holding him suddenly be jostled and dive deeper so he could no longer take in that sweet sea air. He felt like he was being slowly sucked of every piece of oxygen from his body, his struggles were weak and the thing that wanted him in the water did a good job. Dave felt like he wasn’t dying, but just frozen. He couldn’t breathe, could see or smell, the only thing he tasted was the salt and the only thing he could feel was that tight grip. 

It was all over, he didn’t even get to see his Bro and say goodbye. He felt a failure because the last thing his friends wouldn’t have talked to him about was a jab to Jade that hurt her feelings, they wouldn’t have thought him an asshole and continued their day. He didn’t want to die but as he floated there in the nothingness, his consciousness dragging him to a safe haven, he thought this was a good place to die, slowly and painfully, while all of his body was slowly being crushed by the invisible weight of the water. 

The last thing he felt when he slipped into the world of nothingness was a nudge and his body being pulled away from one grip to another. 

Then nothing. It was dark. Peaceful darkness. Cold, salty and fucking alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Tavros had been in debt to this land human; while he was minding his own business catching his meal, some fish and possibly marcel if he found any, when he had a rope fall on him and he just panicked, thinking it was someone who wanted him as fish food.

He was there for hours and every passing moment he thought that he would be noticed and someone would grab him and chop him up, eat him up and he would never be able to see his family again!

Luckily, this blonde human with huge, weird and removable black eyes found him and helped him free of the rope, even lifted him up and carried him to the water! What a nice guy! Though his eyes did freak him out a little; who could pull away their eyes and replace them like that?! His brother didn’t tell him anything about that when he was talking about what humans looked like and what they did on land. 

Once he was free and in the water, he dashed away back to his home to where his brother and friends were to tell the story, he didn’t realize that his brother would try to hurt his human savior like this. Rufioh was a very protective brother, always helped him when it came to food and his wellbeing. He was always a weakling, having a poor sense in direction and his fins being a little too fragile than the others so as the elder brother, Rufioh thought he had to take care of him until he found a partner that could take over Rufioh’s place. Tavros guesses that’s why his brother went up to the land to find this person and now the sight before him was something he has never seen before.

“Brother please put him back!” Rufioh was holding the blonde human in the water, way too far down for anyone to notice and he saw the bubbles of air start to get smaller with every passing moment. His black eyes have come off again and was floating down in the water but that wasn’t the top thing in Tavros’ mind right now. “He saved me, is this how you repay someone who helped me?”

“He could have done much worse to you, plus he could tell everyone that we exist, then where would we be?” He was constricting the human of all oxygen, something that humans needed!

“Please brother, I’ll take full responsibility!” He grabbed the slim body from Rufioh’s grip and yanked the human to him, checking for some vital signs and heard a soft heartbeat on its last tickers. Rufioh threw his hands up, giving in and sighing angrily before pointing a webbed finger at him. 

“He will drag you down, when that happens? I’ll be the one who will pick you up, not him. You’ll regret me not doing that because I’m only doing it for you.” Tavros was already swimming away to get to somewhere that’ll be remote enough so someone couldn’t just randomly appear and take him away for that dreaded ‘research’ thing his brother always spoke about. 

They swam further back to the small opening of sand and rock and Tavros flopped up on the sand, dragging the human who suddenly got a lot heavier. He doesn’t really know much about how to revive air into lungs and so just started pushing on the human’s chest until he heard the palpitations of the heart get stronger and soon enough water was being spewed out of the blonde’s mouth. He turned the body so that the boy could spit out the water and breathe in what he needed. 

He was a little worried about this; he paid his debt and he wanted to be thanked because he had never been so brave before, never stood up for himself. He was starting to doubt himself as the human opened up his eyes and looked around, gasping and coughing; what if he panicked and suddenly attacked him? Tavros didn’t know anything about humans but he knows that when a merman is in a state where they feel uncomfortable or frightened, they would attack anyone nearby to get out of that position. The blonde human rolled to the side and hacked up water from his lungs, at least, Tavros thinks human’s had lungs. He wanted to help as much as he could so he rubbed the somewhat lean back and felt that the skin was freezing. It probably made things worse to be cold so Tavros draped himself over the human that was now starting to shiver, letting him soak up all of the body heat that he had stored up. “You’ll be okay.”

 

\--

 

Cold. So cold. Freezing. Dying. Can’t breathe. 

Dave had been in his own element for what feels like forever; everything was so dark and cold. Seriously, he couldn’t deal with this and the longer he couldn’t feel anything was just making him go insane; was this what death felt like? 

He couldn’t do anything, couldn’t feel anything in fact the only thing he could possibly do was talk to himself in his own mind. He starts to wonder about the people in his lifetime, what they would do once they know he’s gone missing, if they ever find out that he died. What would they do? Go out to find him? By now his body must be like fish food or lying at the bottom of the sea.

He starts to think about who would miss him when they find out he’s not coming back. Maybe Bro would be happier now he hasn’t got to take care of such a piece of trash who scrounges off of him for food and shelter. John would probably cry a little then find a new best friend and Rose would be downhearted to find a new therapy patient. Jade wouldn’t give a shit because he was always hurting her feelings unintentionally and she probably had enough of him by now. Maybe they were all having a party, happy that he was gone.

How long had he been down here? It felt like years.

The feeling of nothing around him but his mind awake will forever haunt him. 

He couldn’t do this shit for long‚ it felt like he was in one of those mental ward places. Nothing to do‚ nothing to say and all he could do is think to himself‚ trapped inside his own mind. People normally thought that being dead was heaven and bright skies with clouds and going to the light and all that crap when all there is‚ is nothing but your own thoughts. 

When those kinds of thoughts are flowing‚ it seems like you would rather have nothing at all than this. Who would want this? 

Wait.

What was that?

Tightness in his chest. Pushing? Who cares‚ he felt something. There was something going on and what felt like days, weeks, months gone by and he felt something. 

He took the chance, going towards that feeling. Pulling him in and he just kept feeling it coming. Waves of pins and needles before pain in his chest that he needed to release. All he saw was black with white patches voiding him from seeing anything.

Drowning, he’s drowning. He doesn’t want to drown he’s too young. 

Something was pushing him as what felt like fluid leaving his mouth. He was vomiting? It doesn’t matter, something must have been working because he felt lie he wasn’t going to die anymore. He actually felt things. 

Gasping for the sweet, sweet air to fill his lungs, he coughed and wheezed. He was cold, shivering and something warm was against his back, it brought attention to how fucking freezing he was. Holy shit. 

A voice behind him spoke, croaky and a little high pitch. “You’ll be okay.”

Who was that? His savior or something? He wanted to turn over but he was too cold to move at the moment, or at least that’s what he will use for an excuse. Maybe he was too scared to look because who the fuck would save him from the sea? Especially when it’s out in the middle and not anywhere near an area that is safe for people to get in by. Dave thinks to himself; the only thing that could have saved him from his watery grave was something that could swim very deep in the sea. Something that actually wanted to save him. Something that could carry him and lift him up onto the land again and speak English. 

A hand swept over his arm, warm and slick. Dave wanted to just run away from it all, this thing might not have wanted to save him but eat him instead. Though by the way he’s being stroked by the creature which he pretty much thinks is a mermaid by now, Dave is thinking of many ways about how to try and get out of a situation like this. 

He tried to talk at the moment; his breath was being caught by the gusts of cold wind blowing on his wet body. The mermaid or merman behind him was really trying to warm him up but it wasn’t helping much. “Hh…” 

“Don’t speak if you can’t.” The voice quickly interrupted, rubbing at the blonde’s arm again and getting it warmed up by the friction. “Now we’re even.”

 

\--

 

It took so long before there were people coming out shouting for Dave, yelling his name at the top of his lungs and by that time, he was already warmed up from the merman laying over him. It was already dark and he couldn’t see who was out there but hearing the people he knows calling out for him, their voices laced with worry, it was heartwarming.  
While lying on the land which Dave found out to be the beach on the other side of the dock, it was a couple yards out into the water and a little to the left where the cliffs stood firm. “Should I go over there?”

“Do they belong to you?” The merman’s voice picked up behind the blonde, curious yet wary. While waiting for Dave to heat up and move around, they started to get used to each other; the blonde had done a lot of touchy feeling on the fish man so he knew that it wasn’t a lie or a trick that his brain made. Said fish had also started to talk to him and he got to know a little about the merman. For example, his name is Tavros and he doesn’t know what his age is, Dave also found out that the one who took him down was Tavros’ over protective brother. He never wanted to meet this brother again. 

“They don’t belong to me, I dunno what you guys have underwater but they’re my friends and I think I heard my brother.” Dave was listening in to the voices calling for him, he was a little worried that getting their attention would freak out the merman and he would grab and pull him into the water again. He spoke uncertainly. Should I shout back?”

“If you want to but I don’t want to be seen.” Tavros was now starting to shake a little as he stared out to where the voices were starting to fade a little, gills widening and shrinking at a faster pace. At first Dave thought it was because he was cold but then he realized that the merman was actually scared. Dave was confused to that matter; something that was considered a myth to people and was even seen to be admired by humans, was fearing them? 

Then it kicked in; there were people who would pay a lot of money to get their hands on a mermaid so they could do experiments. Tavros doesn’t know what happens with the world but he probably had been told about such things, or has no knowledge on humans at all which is why he doesn’t want to be seen. Or he was just scared and wanted to leave as quickly as possible, maybe Dave was a huge burden to the merman. Still, meeting Tavros again was huge for the blonde and he wanted to see the fish man more. “’Kay, but you’re going to see me again right?”

“Depends, do you want to see me again?” Tavros slipped off Dave as he sat up, feeling much warmer even if his clothes were still a bit damp. The merman was looking down as if he was shy for some reason, his freckly tail fin dipping ever so slightly into the water, making a soft splashing sound. 

It was like Tavros was trying to wind Dave up. “Are you kidding me? Of course I want to see you again.”

“Oh. Okay, that’s great. I guess.” The fish man started to smile and Dave got a look of razor sharp teeth. “You go by those rocks every day? I can speak with you there.”

“Yeah, do you know when that time is?” He was pretty sure that Tavros didn’t carry around a watch to tell the time. The merman nodded quickly and pointed up to the sky. 

“The light up there, when it’s at a certain point up there, you come by. But not all the time, sometimes you come later, or not at all.” Dave was impressed at how much he knew but it was a bit strange that Tavros knew so much about the blonde’s life like that. They made it a get together and then Dave started shouting as loud as he could to get everyone’s attention over on the other side. 

At first he didn’t think he would be heard, they were pretty far away. But then he saw flash lights being shone in their direction and Tavros start shimmying towards the water, sinking into the sea almost like a dance. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, Dave.”

“Yeah man, see you then.” They had speed boats, probably hired, starting up before beginning to head over to where he was.  
“And another thing, please don’t say anything about me or my brother. Please.” 

It was almost as if Tavros was giving him puppy dog eyes, those doe orbs practically shining. “I won’t, promise.” 

With that, the merman was into the sea and gone from the blonde’s sight. It took the boat a couple of minutes to come over and then Bro jumped out and ran over, grabbing his lean frame and suffocating him into a hug. “Oh my fucking god don’t y’ ever scare me like that again, lil’ man.” 

“Dave! We were so worried that you’d been killed or something!!” Over his brothers shoulder, Dave saw John and Jade both standing at the back of the boat, they looked like they wanted to get off but something was holding them back. Rose as sitting on the side where the benches were, looking just as worried but she had probably told the others to stay behind while he and Bro had a moment. 

“I fell into the water and the waves brought me out here, I climbed up onto the beach. Hope I didn’t make you guys shit yourselves.” Dave was squeezed tighter and was lifted up from the ground and brought into Bro’s arms. At first he was going to complain but then he thought he should just let his brother do all that he wanted, he had made him worry this much that he had gone out into a search team for him. He was carried to the boat and lifted up onto the deck where John wrapped a heavy blanket around him. “Thanks guys, it was chilly out there.”

“Don’t joke around, I know you’re trying to make us feel better but it’s making our worry into a laughing stock. Do you know how scared we were that something had happened to you? Your brother thought you had been kidnapped and John had thought you ran away from home.” Rose had tried to sympathize but it only sounded like she was looking down on him again. He felt arms around him and was suddenly blocked from view by bushy black hair. 

“Oh I thought something really bad happened, I’m glad you’re safe now.” Jade squeezed him a little before letting go, John sat next to him and the boat man started up the engine and started to move to the docks once more. 

“Did you really fall in?” John leaned close to whisper, the sound of the engine revving made it easier to zone out from people over hearing the two boys converse. Dave was starting to heat up more thanks to the blanket and the idea of telling the truth was starting to become more of a fight, he turned his head to whisper into his ear what had really happened. He didn’t mention anything about Tavros meeting up with him because that was a special thing he had going on and no one could fuck with that, not even his best friend. “What? Holy crap, Dave!”

“Don’t tell anyone. I thought I was going to die, man. Shit was scary. I lost my phone and my shades.” Another thing that was brought to the light; he would have to get a new phone and a new pair of sunglasses, he really loved that pair. 

“You secret is safe with me.” John giggled out and was practically bouncing on his ass the entire way back to the docks. 

Once they were tied up to the dock, Bro lifted him back into his giant arms and carried him into the beaten down truck, plonking him into the passenger seat. Going back to the boat man and giving him some money and plenty of thank yous. The other three followed and got into the back; there wasn’t enough room for the lot of them in the passenger seats so the three of them decided to stay in the back and hold on, Bro promised to go slow as he drove each one of them home thanking them for the help. John was just happy he got to stay up past his bedtime. 

They drove home in silence once Jade jumped out the back, the last teenager to be dropped home. It was a long drive, Dave thought; an hour and a half, he’s surprised the girl has to walk to school and not get the bus or be driven in. Though the more he thinks about it, she probably just loves the adventure. 

They went up the long flight of stairs to their apartment and Bro opened up the door, when Dave walked in he got a face full of broad chest. 

Bro had apparently been very emotional about the whole thing, the door shut behind him as they went to the sofa and Dave had gotten onto his brother’s lap, letting the elder cuddle up to him, his small back to Bro’s thick chest. Even taking off his shades so both their eyes were vulnerable; this shit was serious. They hadn’t done this since Dave was really young and had nightmares. Bro nuzzled his face into Dave’s shoulder and spoke softly knowing that his brother could hear him. “I was so worried that y’ had gone missing.”

“I’m fine, Bro.” Dave was set back by the approach that his brother had put them in, normally when having a serious conversation, they would strife and then sit on the roof and have a talk. This was quite childish and Dave didn’t know that Bro needed this kind of support; it was making him slightly uncomfortable. 

“What if something had happened to y’ though? Like a pervert decided y’ were his new toy or somethin’.” The bristle of Bro’s stubble was scratching against the back of Dave’s neck, it was almost intimate which made it feel like he was a child again. 

“What, like you aren’t a pervert?” Dave joked, shifting his foot so that it would move a smuppet. He felt a rumble against his back as Bro chuckled, pushing Dave off his lap. “I’m seriously fine, cold, but fine.”

“I’m happy y’ are good. I’ll make you hot chocolate t’ warm y’ up, how ‘bout that?” He stood up and went into the kitchen and suddenly Dave felt like a complete asshole; he might have hurt Bro’s feelings by playing all of it off as a joke. He should have taken Rose’s advice on the boat. But the sound of hot chocolate lightened his mood a little as he also stood and padded to the kitchen through the pathway of smuppet. 

He leaned against the counter as Bro was putting the mug into the microwave. “You know, I really am thankful that you did all that, I could have been out there for a really long time if you didn’t care enough to look for me.”

“It’s no problem kiddo, I’m not just some shit parent y’know?” He watched the cup go round and round in the microwave. 

“Yeah but… Thanks. You’re a good brother.” The microwave pinged and Bro opened up the door, getting the cup out and putting the powder in before stirring and passing it over to the other blonde who took it gratefully and took a sip. Dave saw that his brother had a small smile on his face which he quickly changed to monotone line as he turned around, but he still saw a glimpse of it. 

“Thanks, lil’ man.” With that said, Bro left the room to his own and left his door open. Dave took that time to go to his bedroom too and set his mug of steaming hot chocolate on the bedside table. He then stripped out of his still damp clothes and into his pajamas, slipping into the bed and picking up the cup again, taking a long gulp and letting the fluid warm his insides as he snuggled into his blankets. 

His mind wandered through what happened today and thinks to himself how much his life has suddenly changed. He almost died today and Tavros the fucking merman saved him, just like he saved Tavros when he was stuck between the rocks. It was like that movie, The Little Mermaid. 

Well, except Tavros was a boy. He thinks. He didn’t have a penis, but then again it might pop out? Or something like that, maybe mermen didn’t have penises. He didn’t know the anatomy of damn merpeople.


End file.
